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One more thing to understand - unemployment compensation is taxable income. You can choose to have taxes withheld from your weekly benefits or pay them later when you file your tax return. I learned this the hard way!
Bottom line: unemployment compensation replaces part of your lost wages temporarily while you search for new work. It's funded by employer taxes and your past contributions. You have to meet ongoing requirements to keep receiving benefits. Hope that helps clarify things!
been there! resigned due to unsafe working conditions and got approved after a 4-week investigation. key was having photos of the safety violations and emails where I reported them to management with no response. document document document!
Remember that even if you get approved for benefits after resigning, you might face a longer adjudication process than someone who was laid off. Plan accordingly and make sure you understand what information Washington ESD will need before you submit your claim.
This has been incredibly helpful everyone. I feel much more prepared to make this decision now. Thank you all for sharing your experiences!
This thread has been super helpful! I'm bookmarking it for reference. Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences with Washington ESD unemployment.
Just wanted to add one more resource - if you do run into issues getting through to Washington ESD by phone, that Claimyr service someone mentioned earlier really does work. I was skeptical at first but it saved me hours of trying to call. Worth checking out claimyr.com if you get stuck.
My advice: don't quit unless you absolutely have to. Start job hunting while you're still employed. If you find something else, you can leave without worrying about unemployment benefits. If you can't find anything and the job is truly unbearable, at least you'll have documentation and a paper trail showing you tried other options first.
One more thing to consider - even if you qualify for unemployment, the benefit amount might be less than you expect. It's typically about 50% of your average weekly wage, up to a maximum. Make sure you can survive on that amount before you make any big decisions.
Good point. I should probably calculate what the actual benefit would be and see if I can live on that for a few months while job hunting.
Andre Laurent
Good luck with your claim! The initial setup is definitely the most confusing part, but once you get into the routine of weekly filing it becomes pretty automatic.
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AstroAce
•Thank you everyone for all the helpful advice! I feel much more confident about getting started now.
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Emily Jackson
•Yeah this thread was super helpful, wish I had found something like this when I first filed
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Sean O'Donnell
Just to follow up on the Claimyr thing since a few people asked - I ended up using it twice during my unemployment period when I had issues that needed agent assistance. Both times they got me connected within reasonable time frames when I couldn't get through on my own. Sometimes you just need that extra help navigating the system.
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Liam Mendez
•Thanks for the follow-up. It's good to know there are options when the normal channels don't work.
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AstroAce
•I'm bookmarking that site just in case I run into problems. Hopefully I won't need it but good to have as backup.
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